High notes on Mandolin?

[telepbrman]

What is the highest note you usually hit on your Mandolin? I am talking about on your "E" string, how high a fret do you fret? I think Dave Apollon took out a fret to make his "G" easier to play....anyhow, How often do you get up the neck? What tune? Thanks for your time, dy.

[Stephanie Reiser]

When I am practicing scales, in key of B, I use the 19th.
Otherwise, I'm not sure but in When Mandolins Dream I regularly go to the A on fret number 17. ALso in WHen Leaves Fall, both composed by Thile. I love playing way up there even though there isnt much maneuvering room.

[Pedal Steel Mike]

One of my standard tricks is to play a lick or run and then jump an octave and play the same thing.

My 2 Rigels have 22 frets. The highest note is D. I occasionally get up that high. Not often. Now that I am used to mandolins with 22 frets, I would not be satisfied with fewer.

Question: Does the point on an F model hamper the access to the upper frets? Ut looks to me like it would.

[fiddler]

I get up to 15 playing some Bach pieces and the scale studies I use. I seem to remember that there is one Bach piece that gets up to 19 but I don't recall which that is.

[Jim Garber]

Piccola Gavotta by Raffaele Calace has a 17-uplet run that ends up on the high Bb note on fret 18. I am sure that there are a few other classical pieces that go that high or even higher.

BTW I think that the tone of the highest notes on a mandolin are those that distinguish the better instruments. On the fins instruments they still sound sweet and clear.

Jim

[ira]

now that i have switched strings to the jm11s my high up the neck notes have a nice tone to them, and i will periodically in a jam, especially with tremolo on one or 2 strings head all the way up to almost the last fret (i guess i should count how many i have). i have done this on a few tunes, recently in the jam toward the end of morning dew, just before the return to singing the last line (guess it doesn't matter anyway!)

[arbarnhart]

Well I only have 20 frets and about 5 of those are pretty much unused except for checking intonation and playing scales. I use the 12th fret for bridge placement and just checked it at 20 out of curiosity; the frets are playable and properly positioned. I only occasionally go up there doing scales because it seems silly to practice what I don't really play. I do sometimes play open chords an octave up on the fretted strings.

[glauber]

I go all the way to high C, on occasion (19th - i think that's the last fret on my MidMo), but mostly for flourishes. I practice scales up to the 15th fret every day.

[Peter Hackman]

Let's see now. My version of Brilliancy travels up to
fourth position. The highest note is an e on the 12th fret
but the highest fret is b on the a strings.
One of my compositions also has a high e, and I have
a schottische that uses the range between a and d on
the e strings for a very nice legato effect.

Apart from that I don't think the mandolin (at least my mandolin) really sings in the highest positions. The c
on the e strings is the highest note on the guitar,
and I feel comfortable. with the sound in that area,
but not much higher.

On guitar I can't recall ever playing anything higher
than the a on the 17th fret.

[Bob A]

FWIW, I have a mandolin that has 29 frets. Things get pretty tight up there. While I can be content with 17 frets, it's nice to go higher now and then. 22 frets is nice; 24 is better. The extremes are for better players than i.

[Bob DeVellis]

Man, I'm impressed. I don't get past about 10 or 12 playing Irish stuff. The 10th-fret D on the E string definitely gets used, as does the 12th fret A on the A string, but I can't recall any tunes where I go above that. But then, I'm no Grisman by a long stretch.

[Spruce]

Regardless of whether or not you play up there, hitting those high notes on the E string will tell you a whole lot about the tone of the mandolin you're holding...

[glauber]

The hardest thing for me is to fret them correctly, since my fingers are wider than the space between frets up there.

[Michael Gowell]

I enjoyed hearing someone once refer to "the dusty end of the fretboard."

[arbarnhart]

Regardless of whether or not you play up there, hitting those high notes on the E string will tell you a whole lot about the tone of the mandolin you're holding...

I do find that "plinking with a plan" sounds better than just sounding notes though. I started picking out some melodies up high and was happy with how it sounded. But when I just played a note by itself I wasn't so sure I liked the sound like I do lower notes. I find this to be true on the piano as well.

[telepbrman]

Thanks for the input: I don't play up the neck, I hang to the 15th "G" upon rare occasion, I am having a Custom Hyalite built with frets 16 - 24 gone...I will tell you how she turns out in mid Jan....later, dy.